AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL 



HEARINGS 



BEFORE THE 



COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY.) 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

SIXTY-SECOND CONGRESS 

THIRD SESSION 

ON 

ERADICATION OF CATTLE TICK 



JANUARY 4, 1913 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1913 



D, OF D. 
MAR 20 1913 



cJ 






12 <h> 

do -^ , /<V 



,\ •O* 6> 



* <>. 



\ 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 



SOUTHERN CATTLE TICK ERADICATION. 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1913. 

Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 

United States Senate, 

'Washington, D. C. 

The committee assembled at 10.30 o'clock a. m. for the purpose of 
hearing certain gentlemen on the eradication of the southern cattle 
tick. 

Present: Senators Burnham (chairman), Page, Crawford, Cham- 
berlain, and Sanders. 

The Chairman. Gentlemen, the committee will come to order. 
We have here several gentlemen from different States who are to be 
heard in relation to a matter that will come, perhaps, under the ap- 
propriation bill. 

Dr. Gary, of Alabama, is perhaps informed in regard to the mem- 
bers present, and he may make his statement. I desire, Dr. Cary, 
that you and those who may make statements here, shall avoid, so 
far as possible, repetition of what has been said before the House 
committee, because the House committee has had those statements 
taken down and they will be printed. 

Dr. Gary. I have suggested to the men, Mr. Chairman, that each 
man confine his remarks to the important things he desires to say, 
and give his reasons why each State could use more help — more 
Federal help. 

STATEMENT OF DR. C. A. CARY, STATE VETERINARIAN OF 
ALABAMA, AUBURN, ALA. 

The Chairman. Will you please state definitely, in the first place, 
what the subject matter of this hearing is? 

Dr. Gary. The subject matter is the question of eradicating the 
cattle tick that conveys the cause of disease, or is the cause of tick 
fever, and kills off a great many of the southern cattle, and thereby 
induces the United States Government to quarantine all the infested 
area in the South, taking them off the world markets. That dis- 
criminates against southern cattle and puts them off the world's 
markets. 

The Chairman. Dr. Gary, let me suggest for the record that you 
state what your official position is. 

Dr. Gary. I am State veterinarian of Alabama. 



4 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

The Chairman. Give your full name. 

Dr. Cart. Dr. C. A. Cary, of Auburn, Ala. ; State veterinarian 
and chairman of the committee appointed by the Southern Agricul- 
tural Workers; that embraces the entire southern infected area. 
This committee was appointed to take up this matter, especially be- 
fore Congress. 

The Chairman. Now you may proceed with your statement. 

Dr. Cary. The general question is the eliminating of this disease 
from the South by getting rid of the carrier of the disease, the tick. 

Senator Crawford. To what extent is it done? 

Dr. Cary. Last year the Government appropriated $250,000 for 
leadership in this work. The States have given as much, and some of 
them two or more times as much for the work. 

Now, you ask why the different States come here and ask for 
Federal help. They come here simply for this reason: The De- 
partment of Agriculture, under the Bureau of Animal Industry, has 
quarantined the South, and in order to lift that quarantine these 
ticks must be destroyed, and the Government must know that, by 
having inspectors there to know when the ticks have been eradicated. 
Furthermore, these Government inspectors are men qualified and 
educated to carry on that work and direct and instruct the people. 

Senator Chamberlain. Have the efforts of the Government and 
of the States diminished the big area affected by the tick? 

Dr. Cary. About one-fourth. I stated yesterday one-third, but 
after seeing the chief of the bureau yesterday he stated it was one- 
fourth ; that one-fourth of the infested area has been cleared since 
we started the work. 

Senator Crawford. And how much money have you been getting 
from the Federal Government for this work? 

Dr. Cary. We got last year $250,000. 

Senator Crawford. For how large a territory — all over the South? 

Dr. Cary. All over the South that was. 

Senator Crawford. And you want more than that this time ? 

Dr. Cary. That is what we are here to ask you for. 

Senator Crawford. What is Alabama doing toward it? How 
much money has she raised for this work? 

Dr. Cary. The State and the counties cooperated in this work — 
last year the State and counties gave about twice as much as was 
given by the Federal department. I can not give you the exact 
figures. 

We want in Alabama about 10 or 12 more inspectors for the next 
year from the Government, in order to be leaders in this work. You 
understand that these men are to be the leaders and direct the work. 

I do not want to take more time, because there are other speakers. 

Senator Chamberlain. Let me ask you one question, Doctor, be- 
fore you leave. I have before me a map showing the affected area. 
There are about 500,000 square miles now affected? 

Dr. Gary. About that. 

Senator Chamberlain. How much was it when the Government 
undertook to assist the States? 

Dr. Cary. There have been cleaned up something like 165,000 to 
180,000 square miles. 

Senator Chamberlain. Much or all of this territory was originally 
quarantined against ? 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 5 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. 

Senator Chamberlain. As the area has been cleared up of the tick 
pest it has been released ? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. 

Senator Chamberlain. Released from quarantine ? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. 

Senator Chamberlain. And there is some other territory now 
within the affected area that is expected to be released soon ? 

Dr. Cary. Yes ; expected to be released soon — to be released by the 
1st of April, I think. 

Senator Chamberlain. Has the effort to rid the country of the 
pest been quite effective ? 

Dr. Cary. As far as it has gone. So far as it has been applied it 
has been effective. 

Senator Chamberlain. Is it possible to rid the tick from the whole 
territory ? 

Dr. Cary. There is no doubt about that. 

The Chairman. How long has the Government been assisting in 
this work? 

Dr. Cary. Dr. Dalrymple can answer that question. 

Dr. Dalrymple. Since 1906. 

Senator Crawford. How do you do this? Do you have dipping 
tanks ? 

Dr. Cary. It is done by using dipping vats. 

Senator Crawford. Our State, at its own expense, built these dip- 
ping vats all over the State and appropriates the money for their 
maintenance. 

Dr. Cary. The counties and the States do a, great deal of that; the 
counties in the State, in cooperation with the State. But you have a 
good many Federal men who are superintending that work. 

Senator Crawford. Supervising it? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir; that is what we want these fellows for. We 
have a much wider territory, in a sense, and a great deal more work 
to do than you have in the Northwest in your mange question. 

The Chairman. This plague of the ticks, as you call them, has been 
continued how long? 

Dr. Cary. In 1906 the Federal aid began. 

The Chairman. Yes ; the Government has assisted since that time, 
but how long has it been since the ticks were known to cause the 
disease ? 

Dr. Cary. It has been there for years and years, long before the 
Government found that the tick transmitted the cause of the disease. 
But for years and years we did not know what the cause of this 
Texas fever or tick fever was. We did not know it until about 20 
years ago, or a little over, when it was discovered at the Department 
of Agriculture. 

The Chairman. You say now that it is lessening? 

Dr. Cary. It is lessening ; there is no question about that. It is no 
more an experimental work; it is an absolute fact that we can 
eliminate it; get rid of it. 

The Chairman. Just what are the methods of eradication? 

Dr. Cary. By the dipping vat largely. That is the most prac- 
ticable method. There are other methods that are used, but that is 
the most practicable and efficient. 



6 AGEICULTUEAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

Senator Crawford. I presume it acts like this disease we have — 
the manges. It affects cattle if they are allowed to run down and 
get poor and lank and lean? 

Dr. Gary. Only it is worse than that. 

Senator Crawford. And good fat animals resist it ; it does not 
harm them? 

Dr. Cary. No, sir. It is different from that. The condition of 
the animal does not signify resistance. Some of the fattest animals 
are the quickest to die with the .lisease. But it does do this: It 
restrains the production of cattle in the South in that Ave can not 
profitably grow beef or produce milk; neither can we expect to 
handle new cattle for improvement of our cattle. It simply retards 
our cattle industry to such an extent, as compared with the North, 
that we are not in it. 

The Chairman. What are the States especially affected with it? 

Dr. Cary. Nearly all the Southern States. Virginia is nearly 
clean, and Tennessee is nearly clean, as you will see, but all the other 
infested States have quite a territory that is not tick free. North 
Carolina is about half clean. 

Senator Chamberlain. Forty-three out of the 51 counties in Ten- 
nessee have been cleared? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. 

Senator Page. What is the State worst affected? 

Dr. Cary. Texas probably has the largest infested area. It is more 
extensive in Texas than in any other State? 

Senator Page. Doctor, explain this, please: We have had for years 
ticks in southern cattle. I am a hide dealer, and I know that we 
have had ticks in southern cattle for some time. Is this something 
new, comparatively, or is it the same old disease, with greater force? 

Dr. Cary. I am glad you brought that point out. I did not wish 
to be so long in discussing this matter, but I will say this in regard 
to that, that there is a discrimination against tick-marked hides- — 
what is that discrimination in hides, Dr. Dalrymple? 

Dr. Dalrymple. It is 10 per cent. 

Dr. Cary. Ten per cent discrimination on hides that have been 
attacked by the cattle tick. So that injures the hide as a product 
of the South. The cattle tick has been in existence for vears in the 
South. 

I do not know how long, but it is probable that this tick came in 
by way of Florida by the Spanish, or by way of Mexico by the 
Spanish. The Spanish brought it to America from Africa. 

Senator Page. As I understand it. when a tick first imbeds itself 
in the hide of an animal it is not bigger than a pinhead, is it? 

Dr. Cary. It is just a little seed tick. 

Senator Page. Then it grows to be almost half the size of a 
nutmeg ? 

Dr. Cary. Yes ; and all the time it is taking the blood from the 
animal. 

Senator Page. And when it satiates itself it drops off. 

Dr. Cary. Yes. They produce a large number of eggs ; these eggs 
hatch, and the process is repeated. 

Senator Page. So that the whole surface of the animal under- 
neath might be affected? 

Dr. Cary. The whole bodv might be covered. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 7 

Dr. Dalrymple. It destroys the animal for all purposes. 

Dr. Cary. Practically, that is it. And it does prohibit cattle pro- 
duction in the South. 

The Chairman. You are now receiving $250,000? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. How much do you want to increase that amount! 

Dr. Cary. We went to the Department of Agriculture before we 
went to the House committee and, in conjunction with the bureau 
men, wh» know the bureau side — the Federal side— we figured that 
with what Ave wanted this year in the respective States infested, 150 
new men. The Bureau of Animal Industry figured that each man 
would cost about $2,500, and that means about $375,000. 

The Chairman. In addition to the $250,000? 

Dr. Cary. In addition to what is now given. That looks big, 
but let me say that is not to be continuous, if we get it. This ap- 
propriation will stop when we get rid of the tick. 

This will allow the quarantine line to be removed. At the present 
time if tick-infested cattle are permitted to come into the northern 
area, the cattle there die off also with tick fever. 

Senator Page. When the southern cattle infected by the tick move 
into the northern market they convey the fever, do they not? 

Dr. Cary. They convey the tick, and the tick conveys the cause of 
tick fever. 

Senator Page. The tick itself does not thrive in the northern 
climate ? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir ; in the summer time. 

Senator Page. But it affects the northern cattle? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir. We can not bring northern cattle into the 
South, because they die. We can hardly improve our cattle on that 
account. It is a very grave thing with us. It is a national ques- 
tion ; it is not limited to the South. It is limited only to the United 
States, because it affects the entire United States. The United 
States must take care of this quarantine; they have to protect the cat- 
tle. The reason that induced them to put this quarantine upon the 
South was the western range men who bought cattle in Texas carried 
them to the northern ranges and infected their pastures in the sum- 
mer, and they lost great numbers of western cattle. That is what 
induced the Government to put this quarantine on the South. 

It has hurt the South worse than it has the North, but it hurts the 
North as well. 

Another point of interest right there : A few years ago Germany 
put an embargo on American meats largely on acount of the tick 
fever. While it was absurd in a way, it was done for that purpose. 

The Chairman. Doctor, is there anything further that you care to 
say? 

Dr. Cary. I would like to have these men state, in a few words, 
their views on the subject. 

The Chairman. If you will give us the names of the gentlemen 
you wish to call we will be glad to hear them. Whom will you call 
first? 

Dr. Cary. I will call on Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, professor of veteri- 
nary science and a member of the board of live-stock commissioners 
of Louisiana. 



AGEICULTUKAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

Senator Chamberlain. Before you leave the stand, Dr. Cary, let 
me ask you this : What proportion of Alabama was at first infected 
by the cattle tick— all of it? 

Dr. Gary. All of it. 

Senator Chamberlain. How much now has been eliminated by 
quarantine? 

Dr. Cary. We have been working in 12 counties, but there is only 

1 county from which the tick has been eliminated. We lack edu- 
cated help. However, we expect other counties to eliminate the pest 
next year. 

The sentiment is much more in favor of the work now. You have 
to educate the people to an appreciation of these things, because the 
people did not know why the tick injured the cattle. 

Senator Page. Do you establish a quarantine as between those 
counties that you have recovered and the counties that are infected? 

Dr. Cary. Yes; as soon as a county is free of ticks it is protected. 
We have it to do. If we did not do it the county would be reinfected. 

The Chairman. Dr. Cary, if you have nothing more to say we 
shall be glad to hear Dr. Dalrymple. 

Dr. Cary. I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

The Chairman. And we thank you, Dr. Cary. 

STATEMENT OF DR. W. H. DALRYMPLE, PROFESSOR OF VETERI- 
NARY SCIENCE AND A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF LIVE 
STOCK COMMISSIONERS OF LOUISIANA. BATON ROUGE, LA. 

The Chairman. Dr. Dalrymple. please state your name, residence, 
and profession. 

Dr. Dalrymple. W. H. Dalrymple : I have the chair of veterinary 
science in the Louisiana State University; my residence is Baton 
Rouge, La. I am also a member of our State live-stock sanitary 
board. 

Air. Chairman and members of the committee, I might say that I 
had the honor of appearing before the House committee six years 
ago, when the first appropriation was made for this work, and since 
that time, as you have just heard, something like 165.000 square miles 
of southern territory have been reclaimed — that is, the tick has been 
eradicated from that territory, and which is now in what is called 
the free area. In other words, it is free just as much as any other 
section of the United States. 

This quarantine that we have had put against us prohibits our 
cattle going to any of the large markets of the country, except for, 
I think, probably 60 days in the coldest months of the 3 r ear, after 
they have been inspected by Federal inspectors and it has been seen 
that there are no ticks on them. Notwithstanding that fact the} 7 
are placed in parts of the stockyards that are set aside for southern 
cattle, which means tickv cattle, or cattle from the tick-infested area. 
They may have no ticks on them, they may be just as fine butcher 
stock as the western man's animals, but they are discriminated 
against because they come from the infested area. 

I think the estimate made by the Federal authorities is that some- 
thing like 1,000,000 southern cattle are marketed in the markets of 
the North annually, and the discrimination on account of the tick is 
from $3 to $5 a head. There is one item of three millions to five 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 9 

millions of dollars that the people of the South pay annually as a 
tribute to the cattle tick. 

Speaking for my own State, after the Federal appropriation was 
made in 1906, Louisiana appropriated a small amount at that time, 
$5,000 a year for two years for tick eradication. I might say that 
the conditions were that the money was not to do the work, the Fed- 
eral money, but was to assist those who desired to help themselves, 
which is a very good basis, I think. 

Our State appropriated $5,000 a year for two years, making $10,000 
in two years, and that has been the amount that has been appro- 
priated every year since. Of course we are away down below the 
quarantine line, if you will, and we started to work in two of our 
northern parishes. As you may remember, Louisiana is divided into 
parishes. Since then the work has been carried on in other parishes. 

In my own parish, the East Baton Kouge Parish, 40 or 50 dipping 
vats have been put up entirely at the expense of the people themselves 
and given to the neighbors to use gratuitously. There are some other 
parishs that have done the same thing. The parish authorities have 
voted money for the building of the dipping vats in each ward of 
the parish. 

There is one parish that I remember just now; we call it East 
Feliciana, where the police jury — that is the name of the local au- 
thority — voted enough money to build one dipping vat in each ward 
(there are eight wards), and afterwards some stockmen decided to 
put in half the money, which made 16 dipping vats ; and then it was 
decided by private vat owners that if the parish would pay for the 
materials, which are very cheap, and keep up the solution that they 
would make them public dipping vats. 

You see that the aggregate of the local money is quite considerable 
in addition to the State money. I could not give you the exact 
amount. We have only been working in two parishes, you might say, 
systematically — that is, under the Federal and State cooperation — 
but the people themselves have been taking it up and doing it. and it 
is on their demand that we are requiring or requesting the additional 
Federal help to assist in that work. 

We have one parish in which we took advantage of the recent dis- 
astrous overflow of the Mississippi River, just opposite Yicksburg. 
When the overflow came we decided that it would almost entirely 
eliminate the ticks from this overflowed district, and we took ad- 
vantage of that and sent out information to the people to see if they 
would put on restrictions — the parish authorities — and not allow 
any cattle to come back into the overflowed parts without having 
been dipped at least once in the arsenical solution, a standard solu- 
tion. Then, after they were dipped, they would bring the clean 
cattle back into a tick-free parish. And they did so. We were able 
to get some Federal assistance in the form of an inspector to help 
them along, direct the preparation of the dipping solution, and op- 
eration of the dipping vats ; and possibly at the end of this next sum- 
mer that parish will be cleared of ticks entirely, just by taking 
advantage of the overflowed condition of that area. So you will 
see that Ave are losing no opportunity locally to take advantage of 
every possibility that presents itself to enable us to overcome this 
menace. 



10 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

Senator Crawford. Do I understand, then, that after you have 
dipped cattle and cleaned the ticks from the cattle that these ticks 
will have a habitat there in that neighborhood on other cattle, or 
these same cattle may be exposed again by staying in that infected 
region ? 

Dr. Dalrymple. The cattle tick is the only tick that we are con- 
cerned with, because it is the only one that carries the organism of 
Texas fever. Of course, it is a parasite, and it has to have its host 
to live on or it would starve to death. 

Senator Crawford. But if the animals have been put through this 
process, and the ticks have been killed, if they remain in that in- 
fected territory they will be infected over again? 

Dr. Dalrymple. Yes, sir. Perhaps I should explain a little more 
about the method or process. We have found out that in our latitude 
the life history of the cattle tick is just about 22 days from the time 
the little seed tick gets on until all the changes in the life history 
of the tick take place on the animal : and then the large female tick, 
which is engorged and is impregnated, drops to the ground to lay 
eggs. She will lay from 1,500 to 5.000 eggs at a laying. These, of 
course, hatch into little seed ticks. In some parts they clip every 
two weeks during the season. But in Louisiana and some of the 
other States that are under the direction of one of the Federal men 
we clip every 21 days. That is just one day short of the time that 
the ticks drop off, so that we do not allow the ticks to mature and 
drop off. The animals gather the ticks, and every 21 days in some 
States and every 11 days in others they bring them to the vats and 
dip them. 

We are satisfied that, with sufficient vats and sufficient help and 
cooperation of the people, we could clean the whole State in one 
season, practically, of the tick. 

Senator ' Chamberlain. Your efforts have proven that you can 
absolutely clear a particular area of the tick? 

Dr. Dalrymple. Absolutely. Tt was only last summer that we had 
a representative from the Australian Government, Dr. C. J. Pound, 
the Government bacteriologist, and others looking into our methods. 
Its use means absolute tick destruction. It is the best, and by its use 
the tick can be stamped out. 

Senator Chamberlain. What is the formula? 

Dr. Dalrymple. The formula of the solution? 

Senator Chamberlain. Yes. 

Dr. Dalrymple. Simply white arsenic, sodium carbonate, or ordi- 
nary washing soda, and pine tar. 

Senator Chamberlain. That is not very expensive, is it? 

Dr. Dalrymple. Five dollars will fill a 1,500-gallon vat. 

Senator Chamberlain. How many animals will you dip with that? 

Dr. Dalrmyple. They will run, perhaps, 300 or 400 head of ani- 
mals through that solution, and then they will keep on reenforcing it. 

A Voice. It will cost about 25 cents to dip one for one season. 

Dr. Dalrymple. And the vats. Somebody said yesterday that 
thev will run from $35 to $75. Some of our farmers in Louisiana 
have paid as much as $150 for their private tick vats, and they have 
told me that they would not take $1,000 for them, when they con- 
sidered what thev had done in the way of eliminating the tick. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. It 

Speaking about hides, I have a letter in my possession from one of 
the large exporters in Louisiana. He said that if we could get rid 
of the tick that he could pay at least 1 cent per pound more for the 
hides. 

Senator Page. The southern hides run a little light, do they not? 

Dr. Dalrymple. Yes. We have found that the solution is destroy- 
ing the grubs in the backs of the cattle, and that is a tremendous 
thing from an economic point of view. 

Senator Page. Those we have in the North. I am quite interested. 

Dr. Dalrymple. We have them down our waj 7 , too. 

Senator Crawford. What was that — destroyed what? 

Dr. Dalrymple. The grubs. 

Senator Page. The " warbles " is a common name. 

Dr. Dalrymple. The great object of this work is to get an open 
market to the whole of the United States for our cattle. We are 
absolutely hemmed in ; we can not compete with our western friends 
in the market. The South, with her magnificent opportunities for 
her cattle growing, etc., is prohibited from competing on account of 
this tick. We could grow cattle for the whole United States and 
have some to export, too. 

Senator Page. You say you want more inspectors? 

Di\ Dalrymple. Yes, sir. 

Senator Page. Why? If you have the matter fully in hand and 
know just what to do, why do you need inspectors ? 

Dr. Dalrymple. The inspector, of course, is a man who is qualified 
to take charge of that work. The States expend their money, their 
share of the money. You remember that the State at the beginning 
put up its share of the expense. 

Senator Crawford. This money which you want us to furnish is 
largely to be used in pay for these inspectors? 

Dr. Dalrymple. For the Department of Agriculture. 

Senator Crawford. Where can we get inspectors to use up half a 
million dollars a year? 

Dr. Dalrymple. There are lots of men in the civil service. 

Senator Page. You want $150,000? 

Dr. Dalrymple. You are referring to money and I am referring 
to men. We want 150 more men in addition to what we have — Fed- 
eral inspectors. The local money is expended under the direction of 
these Federal men in the building of dipping vats. etc. The Gov- 
ernment does not build any of these vats down there, but they super- 
intend and show the people how to.put them up to the best advantage. 

In the early days we had to work and educate the people against 
very crass ignorance, as you may imagine. We have had to educate 
them in regard to the new methods. People have lived all their lives 
under tick conditions. They have never seen anything to compare 
them with what would be tick freedom. The importance of this 
work can not be overestimated. I know one case, and it was made 
the subject of an illustration by the Government people. It is a very 
good one. It is that of a common Mississippi steer which weighed 
T30 pounds before it was dipped. After dipping two or three or four 
times in just exactly 60 days that animal weighed 1,015, or 285 
pounds gain on the same food in 60 days. 



12 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

I figured with one of our butchers and asked him : " What would 
you give before it was dipped?" He said: "I wouldn't give any- 
thing; it wouldn't suit me.'' I said: "Put a price on it," He said: 
" I wouldn't pay more than 2-J cents a pound." I said : "What would 
you give for the same steer after 60 days ? " He said : " I can give 
you at least 3^ cents a pound." 

There was not only an increase in the weight of the steer, but in 
the price per pound. The fact is that the steer gained $17.28 in 60 
days just by getting the ticks off the feed bill, really. 

Instead of the ticks sucking the blood and getting the benefit of it, 
the animal is getting the benefit of that blood that the tick got. 

Senator Page. Does this tick prove fatal to some animals ? 

Dr. Dalrymple. Oh, yes ; by depletion of the blood. Our southern 
cattle are immune to the fever, but the depletion of the blood kills or 
impairs them. I think it has been ascertained that an animal will 
sometimes lose as much as 200 pounds of blood in a season from the 
tick, and it prevents fattening. It reduces the milk supply at least 
10 per cent, In fact, tick eradication is the basis of our agricultural 
prosperity, and in that, as Dr. Gary has said, it is not a sectional 
question. 

Senator Page. We get a great many thousand skins from the South 
that are taken off animals about a year old that are poor in the cen- 
ter, and the tick has done from 10 to 50 per cent of damage to the hide. 

Dr. Dalrymple. You get an irregularity in the hide ? 

Senator Page. The tick lays itself in the grain of the hide, but 
when the hide is tanned it shows through to the finished side — to the 
flesh side of the skin. 

Dr. Dalrymple. Yes, sir. 

Senator Page. And on your live stock it does a great damage, much 
more than you have stated. 

Dr. Dalrymple. Yes ; there is no doubt about that, 

And so it is. we say, simply to get rid of this barrier, if you will, 
so that we can bring the animals from the North to improve our 
stock, and then have the markets of the world open to us when we 
ship. 

I thank you. 

The Chairman. Whom do you wish to call next? 

Dr. Cary. The next will be Dr. George K, White, State veteri- 
narian of Tennessee. 

STATEMENT OF DR. GEORGE R,. WHITE, STATE LIVE-STOCK 
INSPECTOR, NASHVILLE, TENN. 

Dr. White. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the commitee, I am 
not going to take more than two minutes of your time. I just want 
to show the result that Ave have obtained in Tennessee through this 
tick-eradication work. 

Tick eradication started in Tennessee about seven or eight years 
ago. At that time we had 51 counties out of 96 counties quarantined 
on account of this parasite. That work has been conducted by the 
counties and the State in cooperation with the Federal Government, 
and at this time we have succeeded in eradicating ticks, as you will 
see from the o-reen in 43 counties on this map here. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 13 

Senator Cbaweobd. The green represents the localities where they 
have been eradicated? 

Dr. White. Where they haAe been eradicated. The white rep- 
resents the counties where no tick fever ever appeared, and the black 
represents the present quarantined area. 

That means that after six or seven years' work we have succeeded 
in eradicating ticks in our State down to about seven comities. 

The Chairman. When you began the work did the ticks extend 
all over the State \ 

Dr. White. Nof in those white counties. 

Senator Crawford. But in the bine or green \ 

Dr. White. Yes. sir. But if ticks can be eradicated in 43 counties 
in Tennessee they can unquestionably be eradicated in those other 
-even counties, and if they can be eradicated in the whole State of 
Tennessee they can be eradicated in Florida. Georgia, and all the 
other tick-infested States. 

Senator Page. How do you account for the absence of the ticks 
in the white counties on your map I 

Dr. White. It had not time to spread that far north. The di 
was gradually going farther and farther north each and every year. 

- tator Crawford. You did all that in Tennessee without very 
much help from the Federal Government, did you not? 

Dr. White. We received more Federal aid there than any other 
State, because this Federal Government aid was furnished those 
States on the northern border to a greater extent than it was to iht 
Southern States. If those people would receive as much Federal 
Government aid as Tennessee has received, ticks could be eradicated 
in Georgia. Alabama, Florida, and most of these other States in 
three or four more years. There is nothing experimental in tick 
eradication. It has been demonstrated as a fact, as this map will 
show to any thinking man. It simply resolves itself into a question 
of men and money. 

Senator Chamberlain. In those 48 counties in Tennessee from 
which you have eradicated the tick, have they had the quarantine 
released I 

Dr. White. They have been released from quarantine. 

5 i tor Chamberlain. So that the cattle from them, formerly 
infected, can go into the northern market- ? 

Dr. White. Go anywhere without any quarantine restrictions. 
This tick will probably be eradicated finally, even with the small 
expenditure now made on the pari of the Federal Government, but 
at that rate of appropriation it will be 15 or 20 years before t.. 
ticks will be eradicated from these Southern State-. 

Our idea is to have you gentlemen consider the advisability 
increasing this appropriation so that this an be done in 5 

or 6 or 7 years, in place of letting it run along for 15 or 20 years 
or 25 years, because when the ticks are finally eradicated from 
those States, the Federal appropriation for this work will, of course. 
eease. It is not a continuous proposition by any means. 

I thank you very much. 

The Csajsmajs. "Whom will you call next. Dr. Cary? 

Dr. Cart. Dr. Peter F. Bahnsen. Sti inarian of Georgia. 



14 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

STATMENT OF DR. PETER F. BAHNSEN, STATE VETERINARIAN 
OF GEORGIA, OF ATLANTA, GA. 

Dr. Bahnsex. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, in regard to tick 
eradication there are a few points that have already been discussed 
that I would like to further elucidate. 

A. tick-infested area is not absolutely covered with ticks. There 
are certain areas within the tick-infested areas that are free from 
ticks, but the people in that free area, in those free districts, get no 
benefit from the fact that they are free of this parasite. Their cattle 
are restricted from the markets, just as much so as cattle from the 
infected areas — that is, from infected premises. Nor can they be 
shipped under any conditions. The Federal Government would not 
supervise an inspection from tick-free premises within a tick-in- 
fested area, in order that they be relieved from quarantine and put 
on an equal footing with the cattle from the North. 

Nor can the State authorities make this inspection and certify to 
it. That must be done by the Federal Government. The State is not 
recognized along those lines. It is absolutely essential if this work 
of tick eradication is to progress, as it should progress, that the 
Federal Government make a liberal appropriation in order to super- 
vise or rather to investigate and then release from quarantine such 
territory as is free of this pest. Of course, as far as the work in a 
tick-infested area or a tick-infested premises is concerned, that is 
mostly done by the State. Very little of the money given by the 
Federal Government goes to do any of the actual field work, except 
supervision. Of course, they have to supervise it. 

If we do free a county we can not release it from quarantine ; that 
would not be in our power at all. The Federal Government has to 
have a man on the job who will look into this matter, and it is only 
his Avorcl that finally releases the county from quarantine. 

Senator Chamberlain. Even before efforts were made to eradicate 
the tick the Government was at enormous expense to quarantine the 
North against the South. 

Dr. Bahnsex. It was at the request of the North that the southern 
cattle were quarantined. 

Senator Chamberlain. I say it was a large expense on that account. 

Dr. Bahnsen. Yes, sir. 

Senator Chamberlain. That will be gradually eliminated when 
the tick is eliminated? 

Dr. Bahnsen. When the tick is eliminated that will be absolutely 
eliminated, all expense for quarantine against the cattle tick. There 
will be no further expense. In other words, it is the only appropria- 
tion that is called for right now that we can say with absolute cer- 
tainty will, within a fixed number of years, according to the amount 
of money and the number of men we will have to do this work, be 
completed, and when it is done it will always remain done. 

Since the work was taken up by the Government in 1906 not a 
single county that has been released from quarantine has been placed 
back under quarantine. 

We know that just across the imaginary border between a tick in- 
fested county and a free county they are not free from ticks on one 
side and heavily infested on the other; we know that is not reason- 
able. But infestation is there, and we know that people will violate 



AGKICULTUKAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 15 

the quarantine restrictions and cross over into the free and released 
area ; but when they do so they take a great deal of precaution to see 
that they do not carry ticks. Records for the past 6 years show 
absolutely that once the work is completed there is no danger of rein- 
festation again. 

The line has moved progressively to the south, and not a county 
has been placed back in quarantine after being released from 
quarantine. 

In regard to the State aid, the States — at least those that I am 
familiar with; — have all done more than their share of work, so far as 
the educational feature of it is concerned, and the expenditures of 
money. They have built most of the dipping vats and done most of 
the cattle farm-to-farm inspection. That has always been done by 
the State and counties, although the Federal Government has to have 
a hand in it in order to be able to release the territory from quaran- 
tine. They have to have a part in it. The counties provide money 
and the States provides money; some States more, some States less. 
Last year the State of Georgia gave $15,000. That was the first 
liberal appropriation that was given by the State for the work of 
tick eradication. We fully expect to get a larger appropriation. 
In addition, the counties have always appropriated very liberally 
where we have gone into the matter with them. 

Another point that has already been brought out that I should 
like to emphasize is the one raised by Senator Crawford, who asked 
if cattle were once infected if they might not become reinfected. 
One disinfection or two disinfections will not free any premises from 
ticks. You have to disinfect cattle regularly at an interval not ex- 
ceeding three weeks; that is the very limit. It is much better to 
disinfect every 14 clays; and from 10 to 15 or 16 disinfections, be- 
ginning April 1 of any year, will absolutely eradicate the tick from 
any premises or from any county or from any State, provided the 
work is done regularly and thoroughly. That is all there is to tick 
eradication. 

So we know that we can finish this work in a few years ; we know 
we can do it, because we have had the experience in the matter, and 
we know that Ave are doing it right along. The only time that we 
have ever had any trouble is when, for some reason, an individual 
either fails to disinfect them regularly or fails to do it thoroughly. 

Senator Crawford. Do you find a good deal of prejudice among 
people against doing anything of that sort? 

Dr. Bahnsen. Yes. It is so in every work of advancement. There 
is no work of advancement that does not meet with opposition. 

Senator Crawford. They think you are interfering with their 
personal privilege? 

Dr. Bahnsen. That is right. That is often so when you begin to 
talk to a man about raising 40 bushels of corn instead of 11. He will 
tell you, " You are a fool, and vou can not do it." At the same time 
when you demonstrate it to him you would think that he would be- 
lieve that you could. 

Senator Chamberlain. Are your States passing any laws com- 
pelling this eradication? 

Dr. Bahnsen. Yes, sir; Ave haA T e a laAv enforcing disinfection and 
making a violation of that laAv a misdemeanor. 

Senator Chamberlain. That is vfry essential, I should think? 



16 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

Dr. Bahnsen. Yes, sir. Tn fact, we could not make any headway 
at all without it. 
I thank yon. 

The Chairman. Who is vour next speaker, Dr. Cary ? 
Dr. Cary. The next will 'be Dr. R. F. Kolb. 

STATEMENT OF BE. R. F. KOLB, COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 
OF ALABAMA, MONTGOMERY, ALA. 

The Chairman. Dr. Kolb, you are commissioner of agriculture? 

Dr. Kolb. Commissioner of agriculture in Alabama; yes, sir. 

The Chairman. And have been for a good many years? 

Dr. Kolb. Well, I have only been now for two years. I was com- 
missioner and held the same office over 20 years ago, but I retired 
and am one of the " comebacks." 

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am very glad 
indeed that you had an opportunity of hearing the gentlemen who 
have preceded me, because I want to assure you that they are experts, 
educated veterinarians, and know what they are talking about, and 
I can only indorse what they have said and emphasize the needs of 
the South and for the United States Government to aid us with more 
men and money. That is what we need. We are not asking for this 
money for ourselves, or to distribute it ourselves, but for the United 
States Department of Agriculture to take charge of it, of course, and 
by putting more men in the field, which requires a larger appropria- 
tion, in order to have a sufficient number of them to do this work, to 
educate our people along this line, and to absolutely, as you have been 
told, eradicate the tick in a very short time — within a few years. 

Now. I know that in my State a J one — and the National Depart- 
ment of Agriculture verifies it — we lose annually in Alabama over 
$5,000,000 by this tick in the loss of cattle and have been doing it 
annually for two years, and it :s increasing every year. 

The United States Government ought to come to our assistance 
and stop this thing. We are doing all we can in the various States. 
While our State of Alabama has not made > any direct appropria- 
tion for this special work, our counties have." We are probably giv- 
ing two or three or four times as much — the counties are — than the 
United States Government has given ; at least $25,000 to $30,000 to 
$40,000 in the various counties. But I want to call your atention to 
the fact that Alabama, through her legislature and through her ap- 
appropriations. is giving more money to-day in the interest of the 
approved methods of agriculture than any State in the Union, ex- 
cepting none — South, North, East, or W^est, We give $25,000 annu- 
ally now. for the moneys are all paid out of the funds of my de- 
partment — and I know what I am talking about — for this farm 
demonstration work that we carry on jointly with the State and the 
Department of Agriculture here, * We pay three-fifths of the salaries 
of these demonstrators. We have one in every county in the State 
of Alabama. We pay every month three-fifths of the salaries of 
these demonstrators, while the Government only pays two-fifths. 
Then, in soil survey work, we are doing still more than any other 
State in the Union. We are carrying on this soil survey and will 
soon have — in a few more years — every county in the State surA^eyed. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 17 

We have now got about two-thirds of the State surveyed. Alabama 
appropriates $10,000 annually for that purpose, and these soil survey- 
ors are employed by the commissioner of agriculture of my State 
to cooperate in that work with the soil surveyors of the United 
States Department of Agriculture. We have four and they have 
four carrying on the work in every county in Alabama. 

Mr. Chairman, I do not know anything that I can say that will 
aid you in coming to a just conclusion in this matter, except to em- 
phasize what these experts have told you. They know what they are 
talking about, because they are educated in that line of work. 

I thank you, gentlemen. 

STATEMENT OF PROF. ARCHIBALD SMITH, PROFESSOR OF ANI- 
MAL INDUSTRY OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND SECRE- 
TARY OF THE STATE LIVE-STOCK SANITARY BOARD OF 
MISSISSIPPI, STARKVILLE, MISS. 

The Chairman. Just state your position, please. 

Prof. Smith. I have the chair of animal industry at the State 
Agricultural College and am secretary of the State live-stock sanitary 
board. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the" committee, when the first 
Federal appropriation was made for this work the State of Missis- 
sippi was far below the quarantine line, and, we having no State 
laws that would enable us to work, there was nothing done in that 
line until 1908. At that time the State made an appropriation of 
$5,000 for two years' work, and as a result of our work during those 
two years they made an appropriation of $40,000 to carry on this 
work. Now, as a result of our work since beginning, we have eight 
counties cleaned and above the quarantine line and an area about 
equal to the size of eight counties now ready to be released. 

Gentlemen, we are in a peculiar condition in that State, different 
from some of the others, in that it is naturally a great stock-raising 
State. There is no State that has a greater variety of grasses and 
feed suitable for economic stock production, while, as you well know, 
cotton is the one great cash crop of the State and of the South. Dur- 
ing these last two or three years what is known as the cotton boll 
weevil has been sweeping over the State, and that has made it abso- 
lutely necessary for these farmers to change their system of agricul- 
ture; they have got to adopt other methods. The farm demonstra- 
tion work through the Department of Agriculture and the State de- 
partments are urging these farmers to grow other crops and to go 
into live-stock raising. 

Gentlemen, in order to utilize these other crops when we get them 
grown we must necessarily have cattle and other stock, and we have 
got to create the conditions that will enable these people to breed 
and feed cattle successfully. The boll weevil has had the effect of 
reducing land values seriously and reducing the revenue of the far- 
mers. When you advise those people to go into cattle raising they 
say, " Where am I going to get them ? I can get the common cattle, 
the scrub cattle of the district, but there is not much money in 
handling them. We can not go out into the free areas of the country 

72307—13 2 



18 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION" BILL. 

and buy good cattle and ship them in here because the risk of losing 
them is so great." 

This last year the live-stock sanitary board, in cooperation with 
the Federal bureau, has had men working in about 22 counties. That 
is all the money we have available. We have about 30 counties in 
the State — that is, the boards of supervisors of 30 counties are will- 
ing to appropriate funds to employ county inspectors to visit these 
farms and see that they are disinfected if the Federal bureau in the 
State could provide men to supervise their work and report to the 
Federal department when it is cleaned. No matter how much money 
the State and the county might appropriate, the area can not be re- 
leased until the Federal department is satisfied through the reports 
from their own men that the area is free. We can not make progress 
any faster than the Federal department is able to supply competent 
inspectors to supervise their work. 

During these past two years we have had over 3,000 dipping vats 
built within the State at an average cost of about $35 each, and during 
this last year the counties of the State alone have appropriated about 
$50,000 for inspectors. That will give you some idea of the interest 
on the part of the people. 

Senator Chamberlain. The people there are pretty nearly driven 
to stock raising in view of 'the existence of the boll weevil, are thev 
not? 

Prof. Smith. They are being forced to it, and we are doing our 
best to bring about a condition that will enable them to carry it on 
profitably. It is a very serious matter for those people. We have 
many farmers who come down from the North to purchase land, 
especially in the prairie counties. We are about ready to release half 
of them. The black land underlaid with lime rock is attractive to 
these northern farmers. The land was cheap, and they have bought 
large areas of it. But they were not familiar with growing cotton, 
and the cattle tick there prevented them from handling their cattle 
properly »that they took down with them, and as a result many of 
these people have failed to realize on their money as a result of this 
condition. We are trying to create a condition there that will enable 
those people to go down there and farm just as they would farm at 
home. They can grow the same crops, and if we can give them an 
opportunity to raise cattle as successfully there as at home there is 
no reason why they should not find that land very profitable. The 
State is appropriating very liberally ; every county is appropriating 
liberally. The counties furnish the services of from four to five men 
for each county for the one man that the Federal bureau furnishes, 
and we are asking for at least 30 new men in Mississippi next year, 
in order to give relief to these people who are so desperately in need 
of it. We are doing our utmost not only to free the boll-weevil-in- 
fested area from ticks, but to free the other areas from ticks as 
rapidly as the weevil infests it, so that these people can change their 
methods of farming and prevent this enormous reduction in land 
values and the revenue of the owners. 

I thank you, gentlemen. 

Dr. Cary. Now, gentlemen, we will call on a man from the State of 
Florida, a State that has not taken up the work but wants to take 
it up. I introduce Dr. Dawson. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 19 

STATEMENT OF DR. C. F. DAWSON, VETERINARIAN OF THE STATE 
BOARD OF HEALTH FOR FLORIDA, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. 

Dr. Dawson. Gentlemen of the committee, as Dr. Cary has just 
said, I come from a State which has not yet clone anything in the 
line of tick eradication, but we are very much interested in the 
subject and expect to take it up soon. I have no doubt that the State 
board of health will take from its funds an amount equal to that of 
the other States which have started the work. I do not think it well 
to ask for too much money from the State legislature or from the 
board until we get in a position where cattle is profitable. We have 
to know how to handle the money before we can handle it judiciously. 

We have in Florida about 850,000 animals. Most of them are 
known as scrub animals because they have been raised under Florida 
conditions, and that means under conditions which the tick pro- 
duces. There is no section in Florida which is not infested with 
ticks. Some of our Southern States have sections, as we have already 
been told, where there never have been ticks. But I think in our 
State ticks are prevalent everywhere. We lose every year, according 
to the census — and I believe the report is not as heavy as it ought 
to be — 3 per cent. That would cause us a loss of $25,000 worth of 
cattle every year from what is known as exposure. It is difficult 
to understand how an animal would die from exposure in a climate 
like Florida, but we must remember that exposure means tick in- 
festation, and that is all it does mean. If we could free Florida 
from ticks, we would start up practically in that country a new 
industry. While there are men there who have made money in the 
cattle business, they have made it at random, owning cattle by the 
thousands and not knowing much about it, and never seeing them 
except when they are driven up to be sold. But those people are 
few and far between. We want it so that everybody can raise cattle 
m that State profitably, but we can not do it as long as this tick is 
there to put a damper on it. 

The best way to do is to form in every county cattle improvement 
clubs — not bringing the tick to the surface as being the one object for 
its existence there — clubs that are called ■" cattle improvement clubs," 
and having tick eradication as one of the things for which the club 
would work. They would meet annually at Jacksonville, or some 
other place, having a delegate from each one of the counties, and in 
that way we expect to carry on the educational side of the work. 
We are not expecting to jump in and eradicate in any great amount 
of territory in Florida suddenly. It has got to be an educational 
campaign. We have got to provide for that work men who can 
reach all the small owners of cattle, because in a country of that 
kind they live far away from railroads and are hard to reach and 
we have to pick out a certain class of man who has influence with 
that particular kind of person. I have an idea that our State could 
claim the distinction of being the point at which the cattle tick first 
arrived in America. St. Augustine being the oldest settlement, it 
may be that we are responsible in a way. 

Senator Crawford. You are not claiming that as any great honor? 

Dr. Dawson. Xo. sir; just merely a distinction. I believe that is 
all I have to say. Of course I have no particular or practical knowl- 



20 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

edge on the real subject of dipping cattle. It is all very simple, 
though. All that these gentlemen have told you is absolute truth. The 
tick can be eradicated or destroyed and the Texas fever can be 
stamped out, and it is the only one that can be stamped out in that 
way. The peculiar life history of the tick makes it possible, and if 
you eradicate the life principle of the tick you then exterminate it. 
It is the only insect in the world that can be exterminated, in my 
opinion. It may be interesting to know, with regard to this cattle 
tick, that the discovery of the tick carrying this germ of the Texas 
fever was first mentioned in the history of Madison, where it was 
shown that diseases were insect-borne. Since that time we have dis- 
covered that malaria is carried by mosquitoes, and that yellow fever 
is carried by mosquitoes. This particular tick is the only one that 
carries this peculiar parasite that causes disease in cattle greatly re- 
sembling malaria in man. 

Senator Chamberlain. There is one thing in the West more 
deadly than the tick, and that is the spotted fever in Montana. 

Dr. Dawson. That is all I care to say. gentlemen. 

STATEMENT OF W. G. CHRISMAN, STATE VETERINARIAN OF 
NORTH CAROLINA, RALEIGH, N. C. 

Dr. Chrisman. Gentlemen. I have this morning a map of North 
Carolina indicating what has been done in tick eradication in that 
State. When the work was first taken up by the United States Gov- 
ernment in 1906 the entire State of North Carolina, with the excep- 
tion of a few counties on the western border, were tick infested. The 
entire State was tick infested. Beginning in 1906, with the aid of 
the bureau, we began in the western part of our State, at the top of 
the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a force in eradicating ticks. We 
have worked consistently in that State and are now pushing our line 
eastward year after year, taking in a tier of counties clear across the 
State from north to south. From that day to this we have been able 
to eradicate the ticks from the western part of the State, moving 
eastward down to Avhere you see this black line [indicating], and are 
now crossing the State from Roanoke River on the north to the 
Peedee River on the south. That is a clear demonstration of the 
fact that we can eradicate ticks by persistent and regular methods. 
The method used in North Carolina is a little bit different from that 
in some of the other States. We have not used the dipping vat, 
because conditions do not, as we think, warrant our doing it. We have 
had our inspector in the field, and have been spraying the cattle with 
spray pumps, and think for our particular conditions those are the 
best "methods. Now, what we are going to do in the future depends 
on conditions as we find them when we get to them — whether we 
shall continue in the use of the spray pumps or adopt the dipping- 
vats. From here [indicating] it is all tick infested and has always 
been since our country has been infested with ticks. 

As the gentleman who preceded me said, our ticks came into 
Florida and they worked northward. The reason they have not 
gone farther into the Northern States is because they were stopped 
when they reached this point; taking in Virginia, which is north 
of us ; from there on, the northern boundary of the coast, and all the 
Coast States, have been infected by these ticks, and we have worked 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 21 

persistently in eradicating them; and just one glance at this little 
map will indicate that we can eradicate ticks successfully. 

The question now comes down to one of means to continue our 
work and to eradicate the ticks from the territory that remains still 
infested. The question is now one of money and men to do the work 
with. We are asking you gentlemen to give us a larger appro- 
priation for this work, because the States themselves can not eradi- 
cate the ticks without your assistance. As Dr. Bahusen has stated, 
no matter how well we have cleaned our territory, and although we 
may be ready for release, we can not ourselves release that territory 
until the bureau inspectors have been there and been over the field 
and seen conditions themselves, and these reports must come in from 
your men before the bureau can release this territory. 

Now we are asking for more men to supervise the work. These 
States and counties have appropriated money to do the work, but 
they want the Federal men to supervise this work. We figure that 
in North Carolina it will take five additional men next year to pro- 
vide for the work in the counties that we expect to work, and the 
other States have each given the estimate that that many men will 
be necessary in those States. We are working with a force of men 
throughout the year doing this work. Heretofore, in Virginia and 
Tennessee, the winters have been especially cold, so much so that they 
would kill ticks themselves, and it was not necessary for us to keep 
our men in the field the entire year; but now practically all this 
colder territory has been released from quarantine. We are work- 
ing now down in the southern and eastern sections of those States, 
where all the winters are so mild that these ticks will live the entire 
year. Nature is not taking care of us. Now we have to take care of 
ourselves, and we have to put men and money into the proposition to 
work the entire year. Therefore it becomes more expensive and more 
costly to do that work now than at first, and now we have more ter- 
ritory ready to work than we had when our first appropriation was 
given us, about seven years ago, when the committee came up before 
you gentlemen asking for this appropriation. 

That is why we are here to-day asking for a larger appropriation, 
because the needs of the work are very much larger than they have 
been in the past. The territory is ready. We have the territory 
ready right now for work, and we are simply asking for men and 
for money in order that we may continue — money on your part to 
give us the Federal aid that we should have. 

The map of the United States on the desk will show the territory 
that was affected at first, where the first quarantine line was estab- 
lished by the bureau. It also indicates the amount of territory that 
has been released, and it also states and shows what is yet in quar- 
antine. 

Gentlemen, I thank you. 

STATEMENT OF J. P. STAMFORD, FAYETTEVILLE, ARK., STATE 

VETERINARIAN. 

Dr. Stamford. Gentlemen, I merely wish to state that at the be- 
ginning of this work of tick eradication, six years ago, every county 
within the State of Arkansas was quarantined by the National Gov- 
ernment. At present we have 14 counties which have been released 



22 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 

from the national quarantine by the United States Bureau of Animal 
Industry. This has been done through the work of tick eradication. 
We have an area which composes these counties that represents some- 
thing like 11.003 square miles. I desire, to show you the interest 
that our people have taken in this work, to say that during the last 
year, and during only six months of last year,' 1,161 square miles of 
this total free area was freed through the aid of our own people from 
private contributions. Our State legislature will meet this month, 
and that body of men will look well to the interest of the agriculture 
of the State of Arkansas along the line of tick eradication, for the 
people of our State are demanding that we take up this work, and 
we will have to have the number of Federal men increased in order 
to take care of the work that we will be forced to take up during the 
coming years. We estimate that it will take at least eight more men 
from the Bureau of Animal Industry in order to supervise this work 
of tick eradication that will be taken up in the coming years — the 
coming " tick eradication " years which will start in the early days 
of spring. 

FINAL STATEMENT OF DR. C. A. CARY. 

Dr. Gary. Now, gentlemen, I simply desire to say a word in clos- 
ing, which will occupy but a minute or two. We have practically 
four States not represented : Texas, the largest and most extensively 
infested; Oklahoma, South Carolina, and there is one county in Mis- 
souri. Texas demands, and should have, more men than any other 
State. I am sorry they have not a man here to represent it. 

Senator Chamberlain. Are they interested in the subject? 

Dr. Cary. Yes, sir; they have a call for at least 20 more men. 
Oklahoma has a call in for 20 more men. As I stated in the beginning, 
after getting a summary of all the other wants of the different States 
infested, they are calling for 150 new men from the Department of 
Agriculture to supervise this work. Nov/, this means, if we can get 
it, that the work will progress more rapidly in the coming years than 
ever before, simply because we have now about 75,000 miles of ter- 
ritory that we are working in that will nearly all be practically 
cleaned up this year, if we get sufficient Federal aid. The people are 
ready and want the work to go on in this area. That is just one-half 
as much as was cleaned in the last six years. If we do not get the 
money and leadership it will simply mean that this work will drag 
over a long period of years and in the end cost just as much or more 
to the States, the Government, and the counties interested. 

The Chairman. If you secured this large appropriation would not 
the Government have difficulty in finding competent inspectors? 

Dr. Cary. No, sir ; I think 'not. 

Senator Crawford. That is what is in my mind. Where are you 
going to get an army of veterinarians who will eat up half a million 
dollars? 

Dr. Cary. From 150 to 175 men will cover it, and there will be no 
trouble to get men who are skilled. 

Senator Chamberlain. Does it require veterinarians? 

Senator Crawford. Oh, yes. 

Dr. Cary. That is what we require — graduated veterinarians. 
There will be no difficulty about finding them. 



AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL. 23 

Senator Sanders. Mr. Chairman, as I understand it, the other 
departments or other divisions of the Agricultural Department have 
men that they can draw on for that use. 

The Chairman. Very likely. 

Senator Sanders. I am told they have. 

The Chairman. Is there anything further, Doctor, that you desire 
to say ? 

Dr. Gary. Not unless there are some questions. We desire to thank 
you gentlemen for your kind favor in giving us this hearing. 

The Chairman. I wish to state to you, Dr. Gary, and you, gentle- 
men, that we fully appreciate the importance of this matter, and 
when the bill come from the House, as it will in a few days, I hope, 
the committee here and the Senate, of course, will give careful con- 
sideration to what has been said, and we are obliged to you for the 
information you have given us. 

The committee thereupon adjourned. 

o 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 838 677 1 






lslli H 
1 



i : :'i 



